The business surveys in industry, construction, retail trade and service sector gather information about the entrepreneurs' opinions about the situation and development of their business. The replies to the questions included in the questionnaires are presented in a three-option ordinal scale. The results are in the form of balances which are the difference between the positive and negative answering options.

Classification system

Classification of Economic Activities (CEA-2008, for international use NACE.BG-2008)

Sector coverage

The business inquiries cover the enterprises in industry, construction, retail trade and service sector.

Statistical concepts and definitions

The total business climate indicator is a weighted average of four branch business climate indicators in: industry, construction, retail trade and service sector. As the last indicator of the business climate in service sector has been included in the total time series since May 2002.

The business climate indicator in the observed branches is a geometric mean of balances of assessments about the present and the expected business situation in the enterprises.

The replies to the questions from the inquiries are presented in a three-option ordinal scale of the following type: "Increase", "No change", "Decrease" or "More than sufficient", "Sufficient", "Not sufficient". The balances ofopinions are calculated as a difference of the relative shares of the extreme variants of answers.

Some of the indicators represent numerical assessment, e.g. production assurance with orders (number of months), capacity utilisation (%), etc.

Statistical unit

Enterprise.

Statistical population

About 4200 enterprises are surveyed each month.

Reference area

At national level: total for the territory of Republic of Bulgaria.

At European level: General for Economic and Financial affairs Directorate publishes for the EU member states, Euro area and EU candidate countries.

Time coverage

Monthly data about:

· industry, construction and retail trade: from January 1997;

· service sector: from 2002.

Quarterly data about industry: from 1999 and for construction: from 1997.

Base period

Not applicable.

Unit of measure

Balance, per cent, number of months, etc.

Reference period

Month, quarter.

Institutional mandate

Legal acts and other agreements

Joint harmonised EU programme of business and consumer surveys.

Manual to the Joint harmonised EU programme of business and consumer surveys.

Special European Economy Report, December 2006.

Data sharing

The indicators are provided to EC, DG "Economic and Financial affairs", according to concluded agreement.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality - policy

Law on Statistics;

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Confidentiality - data treatment

Individual data are not published in accordance with article 25 of the Law on Statistics. The publishing of individual data can be performed only in accordance with article 26 of the same law.

Release policy

Release calendar

The date of publication of statistical information is indicated in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute. The data are announced in the last week of the month - around the 28th.

Business surveys data are published on the NSI website, section Business statistics - Business Surveys in accordance with the Law on Statistics (Chapter 5) and the European Statistics Code of Practice respecting the professional independence and aimed at objectivity, transparency and equal treatment of all consumers.

Frequency of dissemination

Monthly, quarterly.

Accessibility and clarity

News release

NSI publishes regular monthly press release "Business conjuncture" in the last week of the reference month.

Publications

Analytical publication "Bulgaria 2011 - statistical panorama".

On-line database

Data on business surveys are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Business statistics - Business Surveys -Business survey in industry, construction, trade and service sector: http://www.nsi.bg/en/node/4369

The applied statistical practice of providing data is according to the harmonized European Union programme for business surveys.

Quality assessment

The quality of the time series is monitored and controlled on a monthly basis.

Relevance

User needs

Main users of the data are Government institutions, research institutions and other users from the country, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and other international organizations.

User satisfaction

The users' satisfaction survey is not carried out.

Completeness

According to the harmonised European Union programme.

Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

In sample surveys may be mistakes in the registration of answers, processing, and others.

Sampling error

Non-sampling error

Timeliness and punctuality

Timeliness

The NSI presents information about business surveys in the last week of the reference month.

Punctuality

The data are disseminated according to the planned schedule.

Coherence and comparability

Comparability - geographical

The data received at national level are comparable between different countries carrying out business surveys according to Joint harmonised EU programme.

Comparability - over time

The time series data are comparable.

Coherence - cross domain

Not applicable.

Coherence - internal

Not applicable.

Cost and burden

In order alleviate the business in submitting statistical data, reducing the respondents' burden and improve the quality of data in statistical surveys since January 2012 "Business surveys in industry, construction, retail trade and service sector" are conducted through web-based questionnaires.

Data revision

Data revision - policy

Not applicable.

Data revision - practice

Not applicable.

Statistical processing

Source data

Main data sources are:

· questionnaires of business surveys in industry, construction, retail trade and service sector.

Frequency of data collection

Monthly, quarterly.

Data collection

Methods of data collection:

· Through the web application and in order to reduce the degree of non-response is provided sending informational and reminder letters;

· Printed form is sent to the respondents by email or postal mail, and then they collect from RSOs that shall introduce the information in the application.

Data validation

In introducing and recording data obligatory control is performed according to set validation rules. If the information given in a questionnaire does not meet the requirements of validation are appear the error messages on user's screen. Performed and verify as regards the output data.

In October 2018, the total business climate indicator decreases by 1.9 percentage points compared to the previous month as a result of the more unfavourable conjuncture in the industry, retail trade and service sector.

In September 2018, the total business climate indicator decreases by 1.5 percentage points in comparison with August, which is due to the more unfavourable business climate in construction and service sector.

In August 2018, the business conjuncture in the country is assessed as unfavourable. The total business climate indicator decreases by 2.9 percentage points compared to its July level as a reduced of the indicator is registered in all observed sectors - industry, construction, retail trade and services.

In July 2018, the total consumer confidence indicator decreases by 0.6 percentage points compared to its level 3 months ago which is due entirely to the decreased confidence among the rural population.

In July 2018, the total business climate indicator remains approximately to its level from the previous month. An improvement of the business conjuncture is registered in construction, retail trade and service sector. Only in industry, a reduction is observed.

In June 2018, the total business climate indicator decreases by 0.9 percentage points in comparison with the previous month as a result of the unfavourable business climate in construction and service sector.

In May 2018, the business conjuncture in the country continues to improve. The total business climate indicator increases by 2.1 percentage points compared to April and reaches new long-term maximum (33.1%) since 2009.

In April 2018, the total consumer confidence indicator increases by 1.8 percentage points compared to its January level. An increase of consumer confidence among both urban and rural inhabitants by 1.0 and 4.1 percentage points respectively is reported.

In April 2018, the total business climate indicator increases by 2.8 percentage points in comparison with the previous month as a growth of the indicator is registered in all observed sectors - industry, construction, retail trade and services.